Burials company Dignity, the UK’s only stock market-listed undertaker, showed the full impact of its price war with the Co-op on Monday after profits were hit by more people choosing budget funeral plans.
The company, an umbrella group of dozens of funeral providers including London’s J H Kenyon which buried Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, said underlying quarterly profits fell 39% to £12.2 million from £19.9 million as it overhauled its funerals range.
Dignity announced plans last January to slash its basic funeral prices by 25% to go head to head with Co-op Funeralcare, which would lead to lower profits in 2018.
Results today showed 24% of Dignity customers chose its Simple & Limited funerals range, costing £2420, in the third quarter compared with a company forecast of 20%. Last year the quarterly figure was 7%.
Its full service range, which costs £3695, attracted 44% of customers, down from 60% last year.
Peel Hunt analyst Charles Hall said the shift could become more pronounced as low-cost funerals become more “fashionable”.
“Bear in mind that most people choose funerals on personal recommendations, so the more that use a Simple Funeral and like it the more are likely to do so in future,” he told clients.
